Torres, 26, had a fantastic 2013 season with the Rays, finishing with a 1.71 ERA in 58 innings. He averaged better than a strikeout per inning and more than three strikeouts for every one walk. It was his first full season in the Majors.

Forsythe, who just turned 27, logged time at five different positions for the Padres this past season: at second base, third base, shortstop, left field, and right field. He had poor results at the plate, however, wrapping up the season with a .613 OPS. Forsythe will become eligible for arbitration for the first time after the 2014 season.

Rays give away a solid reliever but do get a guy who can play all over the diamond who still has upside. Worst case scenario he’s a Super utility for two years. Plus Rays seem to always pull a good arm out of no where. M’s also do well strengthening their bullpen. Good move on both parts

Seems like a quality for quantity trade from the looks of the details, but time will tell if I’m right. I’m currently pretty skeptical about this for the Rays, especially since if there’s any place that Torres can repeat his 2013 numbers, it’s in Petco Park.

From the optimist’s POV, however, this deal seems closest in structure to the last time they sold high on an asset to the Padres, aka. the Bartlett trade, which panned out nicely for the Rays’ system depth (Gomes, Ramos, and Figueroa are all still in the Rays’ organization, albeit all of them as depth pieces, and Bartlett ended up being released for poor performance a couple of years after the deal).

Well, Forsythe was originally a third baseman, but the Padres have been moving their 3B prospects because they already have a steady 3B. Forsythe has a 3B bat and would be an upgrade at 2B, but unlike the incumbent, can’t play the OF.

Mat Lollis (not Hollis) is a power pitcher who isn’t a single A player but AA and AAA the last two years. He’s been unable to adjust to the launch pad PCL as a starter, but has the arm to succeed in the bullpen.

Matt Andriese is a real prospect who is behind several others on the pitching-rich Padres and was expendable. He’s a year or two away, and the Padres took Hahn wo is a year or two farther away as compensation.

Boxberger was the guy who almost stopped the Latos trade, until the Reds agreed to include him. He’s a potential ace closer, but a serviceable set up man now.

The Padres also threw in a low A second baseman with promise and not much of a track record, being a 2012 draftee. The Padres have a couple 2B candidates ahead of him, including 1st rounder Spangenberg, so they won’t need him at 2B if Gyorko replaces Headley at 3B.

Overall, the Rays got depth and potential for one potential starter and a lefty reliever who had a great year. The Rays don’t make dumb trades and this isn’t one of them. The Padres gave up pieces they can easily replace to plug a bullpen hole and a down-the-road potential starter who might be better than Andriese. It looks like a trade that helps both clubs.

This trade doesn’t make any sense at all! Really stupid trade! Are bullpen was sh!t last year and Torres was the best one out if everyone! He super cheap for 5 more years and we trade him for a horrible bench player? For a utility man? We already have fawking seanrod and Zobrist! Smh this move just makes 0 sense! Same as the moooolina signing! Logan Forsyth… Pffft what a joke!

I expect the balance to be found in the players we don’t know about yet. The Rays haven’t made a habit of unbalanced trades that do not favor them.

jvn36 - Jan 22, 2014 at 11:07 AM

What are you seven? It’s “Our” not “are”. Zobrist is on the twilight of his career, the rays need infield depth and sure they gave up a piece in Torres, but Logan Forsythe is an excellent player who was blocked by ROOKIE star Jed Gyorko. So calm down and wait until spring t to throw your hissy fit. It makes a lot of sense if you actually think about it. Plus padres fans loved referring to him as Fore-skin…. Rays fans should continue the tradition.

A little surprised that the Rays included Torres in the deal after the year he had in 2013. Without knowing the other players involved if it’s primarily a Forsythe for Torres deal it seems a little one sided and no wonder the Padres made the trade.

Somehow, the Rays seem to thrive by snatching versatile players like Forsythe from other teams and the giving them a chance to succeed. I am quite sure that The Rays know what they are doing and why they are doing this trade.

Sorry AA isn’t trading either!!! cost is too high!! welcome to mlb welfare where you get to live off the luxury tax!

At the moment, Anthopoulos sounds as though he’s suffering from sticker shock. On Thursday, Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi tweeted, “AA again says acquisition cost for FA pitchers and arms in trade too high at the moment.” That’s fairly typical GM posturing; Anthopoulos knows he needs to make a splash to reassure the Blue Jays’ fan base that the team still intends to contend in 2014.

And now we can add attempted plagiarism to your long list of repulsive attributes, not that anyone would mistake Jay Jaffe’s writing at SI for your own. Have the guts to cite where you’re pasting from.

dirtyharry1971 - Jan 22, 2014 at 8:47 PM

and where did I even remotely claim I wrote any of that besides nowhere? pathetic, go back into your hole

dirtyharry1971 - Jan 22, 2014 at 9:42 AM

Unfinished business: Starting pitching

The rotation is full of question marks, starting with frontmen Dickey and Buehrle, neither of whom lived up to expectations in 2013. J.A. Happ, Brandon Morrow and Todd Redmond, the three pitchers currently penciled in to round out the unit, combined for just 42 big league starts and a 4.78 ERA (85 ERA+) in 2013 due to injuries and mediocrity. Happ missed 77 games after being hit in the head by a line drive, while Morrow lost four months to an entrapped nerve in his forearm; he’s totaled just 31 starts over the past two seasons. Between that trio, holdovers Kyle Drabek and Esmil Rogers and prospects Marcus Stroman and Sean Nolin — both of whom spent nearly all of last season at Double-A — the team has a variety of back-rotation options but nothing close to a sure thing who can fill a mid-rotation role.

As such, the Blue Jays have scouted Japanese hurler Masahiro Tanaka, though they’re not serious players to sign him. They’re said to be a leading candidate to sign Ervin Santana or Ubaldo Jimenez

This one is puzzling but I would strop short of calling it a bad deal for the Rays for a couple reasons. The first is Andrew Friedman and his incredible record of decisions for the Rays bullpen. The second is the deal isn’t completely described yet. So at this point, In Friedman I trust.

You would think the Rays are going to get a top pitching prospect from the low minors, someone 19-20 years old with a great upside. Without that, this is a head-scratcher. But the Rays rarely give away good pitching, they always re-stock their pitching depth, so I expect the unknown players involved will include a gem going to Tampa

Okay, now that it’s a day later and other players have been named, is anybody still questioning Friedman? He gave up a lefty reliever who had a good year, and a potential mid rotation starter who is 2-3 years away.

He got a potential ace closer who is good enough now to be a set up man, and a mid-rotation starter who is a year closer to the majors. He also got a power pitcher (Lollis) who hasn’t done well as a starter but has potential in the bullpen, a second baseman who is 3-4 years away but has a good bat, and a third baseman in Forsythe who was blocked by Headley and learned to play 2b (with a 3B bat), who was moved off 2B by a power hitting third baseman who was also converted to 2B.

Forsythe is under control for 4 years and potential closer Boxberger for five. The others haven’t even had their clocks started yet and can be acclimated to the “Rays Way” in the minors.

If you’re a Padres fan, that was an expensive way to fill the bullpen lefty hole, but all the players were excess in their system. Forsythe’s hard-nosed playing style will be missed, but the Padres actually believe they can compete for one of the wild card spots in ’14, so they pulled the trigger on filling that last bullpen hole, giving the Rays a deal.